Sacroiliac belt



May 22, 1951 c. Pd. LAMPERT 2,554,337

SACROILIAC BELT Filed Oct, 2l, 1946 INYENTOR Caf 727g LeHPs/Qr Patented May 22, A195i UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE 2,554,337 sAoRoILIAo BELT chester P. Lampert, seattle, Wash. Aep'iie'etin 'oetet'ei- 21, 1946, serial Ne. "iaiei v claims. (ci. 12s- 96) This invention relates to a sacro-iliac belt, and namely a. corrective belt for use `in conditions where the articular depression of the il-ium bone and its mating' cond-yle of the sa'crum tend to slip out of joint. As heretofore devised, medical belts which professedly corrected this condition have been little more than cinchestraps and substantially the only result of their usage has been to subject the pelvic girdle to side pressure. This side pressure has, in rmany cases, been distrib-Y uted partly upon the hip bones and partly upon the greater eminence or outer trochantervof the thigh bone, and which is more than usually ob; jectionable in that it tends to immobilize the latter, but even the prior belts which are free of this objection have still been characterized in that they transmit pressure to the hips of the wearer such that two opposing forces are set at opposite Asides of the pelvic girdle. The result of applying force in this manner is that the ilium or prominence of the hip, being vcrowded in'- wardly, is caused to also shift backwardly, and together with the resultant stiffening of the joint develops a vseparation rather than an articula`` tion between process land socket. The principal object of the present invention is to overcome this disadvantageous result by designing a cor? rective bel-t in vsuch a manner that the act of tightening the belt upon the wearer subjects the ilium to a forward and inward pressure bring-` ing the condyle of the one and the mating depression of the other -of the two principals of the s'acro-iliac joint into proper register. With this and other advantages in View and which will appear and be understood in the 'course of the following 'description and claims, the invention consists in the novel construction 'and in the adaptation andcombination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings: r

Figure 1 is a perspective View showing a sacroiliac belt constructed to embody the teachings of the'present invention.

Fig. 2 isfarfront `elevational view, and Fig. 3 is a rear elevational view thereof, the belt being here shown as applied to a wearer and the scale which is used being reduced from that of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken to an enlarged scale on line 4--4 of Figs. 2 and 3; and

Fig. 5 is a detailed side elevational view looking in the direction of the arrows 5 5 of Fig. 4.

The sacro-iliac belt of the present invention is of a jointed nature comprised of four sections.

Two of these sections lie at the back and are de- Cil noted generally bythe numerals I0 and 'I Land the other wie 'seetij'nsiie etthe front and denoted generally by I2 and I3. .y First describing the front sections, `the are d'esirabl'y of a length suici'ent to 'eite'nd fi approximately the front center to a point well 'beyond the side 'center ofvtnat part o'f the weafg ers body known as the pelvic `g `rdl'. Such f r `t sections, considered in top plaitfare shaped 'more or less to the surface contour 'of the body part which they everiie, 'and namely with the trenta; end being relatively straight while the rear 'nd is `hooked in a's ith'passs the crest of 'the iiuiijl'. This irontal section iscomposed of a piece 'I of metal er other relatively 'si-.fir materiel, here; board for example, cushioned upon the viii v by a block I5 of spongerubbi, the rubber being cemented or otherwise flrmlyhel'd in place. 4The components I6;II 'offa strap-/and-buclle m nection are permanently secured as rivets I i one to the frontal vend of 'one section I2 the other to the frontalend of the other 'seetlgn' is. speeed-epert buckles 2o. fer e purpbse 'to be hereinafter described, Yare also 'aiei topfaiid bottom, te the beek edge ,oijeeeh from seetieii. The black sections I Il` 'and I I are intended tolle at opposite sides of the wearer@ spine with their collective length made 'suflilcien't to ,'spany the greater length o f the wearers pelvic rvgir le7 These sections are each comprised of an in bleek 2i @forfeit having 'a' fiat and rigid stili ing beard 22 iir'iniy cemented es 'e peeking there; for, end there is enigen teyiiieubaekiri'g peers te overlie its gouter 'surface a facing pice 23, prefpieinge'd y fer-e and aitdbey'nd the cushioning block and its 'stiffenen The aft prolongation, Zienoted 24., is made rather wide and is pier'c d 't5 provide tw'o row's'of Holes with 'the holes being more or less eduidis'tantly spaced in each of rews. free' 'eutsiiiejiev'f 'di holesl is des-'iabiy iitt'ed with grommets. dCorripa'red thewi th of the prolongation 27I, the forwardlymdirefcted prolongation25 is rather narrow and occupies a p'ositii overlying the 'aft end of the frnt section i2 or I3, as the case may be, in the space between the buckles 20. For connecting each front section to the immediately adjacent back section, and such, desirably, as will permit pivotal movement of one relative to the other, a rivet or the like 26 is applied to the tab 25. The flexibility of the tab itself produces a substantial hinge connection between the front and back sections. In lieu of the described backing 22 and its facing piece 23, it is feasible to employ simply a stiff 3 plate of fibre-board and to rivet or otherwise fasten to the frontal end thereof a separate tab of leather to form the hinge, the two rows of holes being in this case bored through the fibre-board along the back margin of the latter.

As an attachment between the prolongation 24 of one back section and the prolongation 24 of the other back section, and one which will permit a take-up of the spacing therebetween, there is provided an arrangement comprised of a multiplicity ofthongs 21 passed through the holes of the prolongations 24. These thongs are made from a leather strap and are produced by slitting the strap from one end for the greater part of the length, leaving upon the other end a root or parent part 28 suitablyrpierced with holes for attachment to the buckles 2U. In applying these ganged thongs, the root end of each strap is caused to be attached to a related buckle and the thongs are then threaded through the holes of rone back section and anchored to the otherv section. Taking the Astrap attached to the upper buckle of the front'section I2 as an eX- ample, the procedure is one of passing the three thongs along the outside of the back section I and thence threading the same from the inside through the three top grommets of the back section Il, whence the free ends of the thongs are returned to the prolongation of the back section l0 and threaded from the inside through the :z

three 'top holes of the second row of piercings, whereupon the projecting free ends are knotted asr at 3D to preclude being drawn back through the holes. These steps, as well as the counterpart thereof performed upon the other three I;

straps, can be clearly traced by an examination of Fig. 3 of the drawing.

When the belt is first applied to a wearer, the root ends 28 of the straps are taken up relative to the buckles in the degree necessary to properly fit the belt to the pelvic girdle, and no further adjustment is thereafter required, the wearer simply fastening and unfastening the frontal strap i6 when applying and removing the belt. The action of the hooked back end of the front section, working in conjunction with the sti back sections I0 and Il, in performing the intended end of drawing the sacrum and the lium into proper registration will, it is believed,

be readily understood from the foregoing de- :i

scription taken in connection with the illustration of my now preferred embodiment of the invention. It should, perhaps, be pointed out that the commercial model of the belt incorporates a fabric jacketing for each section, but for simplicity in illustration and clarity in an understanding of the same this is eliminated from the drawing.

' While there is herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What I claim is:

1. A jointed sacro-iliac belt comprising two 4 connecting inflexible back sections arranged when the belt is in service to lie one at one side and the other at the other side of the wearers spine and collectively spanning the greater length of the back of the wearers pelvic girdle, and two front sections hingedly connected -by their aft ends to the forward end of a related said back section, said front sections being each formed with an inwardly hooked rear extremity and being stiiiened to hold the shape of said hook, complementary belt-tightening means being provided on the forward ends of the two front sections.

2. A jointed sacro-iliac belt according to claim 1 in which the back sections are each comprised of an inner block of cushion material backed by a stiifening board and having a tab of exible material fixed to the backing board and extending forwardly from the latter, the tab being joined to the adjacent front section and producing the hinge which connects the two.

3. A jointed sacro-iliac belt according to claim 1 in which the hinge connection between the back and the front sections comprises a tab of leather attached by one end to the back section and by the other end to the front section.

4. A jointed sacro-iliac belt according to claim 1 in which the front'and back sections, in addition to their hinge attachment, are connected for pivotal adjustment about a transverse axis.

5. A jointed sacro-iliac belt according to claim 1 in which each of the four sections are cushioned upon the inside, the two front sections by sponge rubber and the two back sections by felt.

` 6. A jointed sacro-iliac belt according to claim 1 wherein adjustable means are provided for adjusting the distance between the connected back sections.

7. A jointed sacro-iliac belt according to claim 1 wherein each `back section is provided with a backing member presenting a'longitudinal prolongation, each prolongation being pierced with a severality of holes, and a strap for each backing member attached by its head end to a respective backing member and having its other end slit longitudinally to form a gang of thongs, each thong being threaded through a respective hole of the prolongation of the other backing member and returned and passed through a respective hole of the parent prolongation with the free extremity knotted to preclude the same being drawn back through the hole.

CHESTER P. LAMPERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

